VandePoel Named Athlete of the Week

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - West Virginia University women’s diver Haily VandePoel has been named this week’s Varsity Sports Report athlete of the week for her impressive meet against TCU last Friday.

The Holland, Mich., native continued her record-breaking season with a first-place finish on the 3-meter board, breaking her own school record with 316.20 points. VandePoel then placed first on the 1-meter, scoring 281.77 points.

The women’s team will close out dual meet action by hosting Ohio on Saturday, Jan. 26, with the meet scheduled to begin at noon.

-This Week in Women’s BasketballThe West Virginia women’s basketball team will have two Big 12 home contests this week … WVU will open the week with a 7 p.m. tipoff with Texas Tech on Tuesday, Jan. 22 and will close out the week on Saturday, Jan. 26 with a 7 p.m. game with Iowa State … Tuesday’s game will stream live online at WVUsports.com, while Saturday’s game will be broadcast live on Root Sports.

-Last Week in Women’s BasketballWVU went 1-1 last week with a 58-50 win over TCU at the WVU Coliseum, and a 76-58 loss at Baylor on Saturday … the scoring margin of 18 points was well under Baylor’s season’s average of defeating teams by 30.1 points and was the lowest scoring margin against the Lady Bears in all Big 12 games this season.

-Notes & QuotesJunior guard Christal Caldwell averages 15.2 points per game in Big 12 only games, the fifth-highest average for all Big 12 players … Caldwell is WVU’s second-leading scorer in Big 12 play, behind fellow guard Taylor Palmer with 16.7 points per league game, and has led the Mountaineers in scoring for three consecutive games … this week, WVU will face Texas Tech on Tuesday for the first time in program history … the Mountaineers hold a 1-0 all-time series advantage with Iowa State, defeating the Cyclones 64-53 in the last outing on Nov. 27, 2010.

Track and Field

-This Week in Track and FieldThe West Virginia University track and field team will hit the road as the team travels to State College, Pa., for the PSU National Invitational on Jan. 25-26 … the meet will take place in the Ashenfelter III Indoor Track with field events starting at 10 a.m.

-Last Week in Track and FieldThe Mountaineers dominated their second indoor home meet of the 2013-13 season with eight first-place finishes at the WVU Invitational … WVU had one relay team take top honors, while also having five individuals place first in running events and two in the field events.

-Notes & QuotesAt the WVU Invitational, senior Sydney Cummings led the way by posting the second best high jump score in program history with a leap of 1.76 meters … junior Chene Townsend took first place in the 60-meter dash with a season-best time of 7.77, while also placing second in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.71 … junior Sarah Martinelli once again led the group in the 800-meter run with a first-place finish and a time of 2:17.26, while junior Arielle Gaither and senior Hallie Portner followed closely behind in second and third place, respectively … three freshmen took top honors in the 500-meter run with Christa D’Egidio leading the way with a time of 1:17.35 … Alyssa Scherich placed second with a time of 1:18.36, while Peyton Hampson and junior Allison Tyree finished third and fourth, respectively … the Mountaineers also had first-place finishes from freshman Ashanti Bess in the 200-meter dash, senior Lauren Moskal in the 1,000-meter run, senior Alanna Pritts in the weight throw and the 4x400-meter relay team of D’Egidio, Hampson, Gaither and Tyree also took top honors.

Wrestling

-This Week in WrestlingWVU returns home for matches against Rutgers on Friday, Jan. 25, at 8 p.m., and Iowa State on Saturday, Jan. 26, at 3 p.m.

-Notes & QuotesIn the match against the Cowboys, Nathan Pennesi was the lone WVU wrestler to score a win, as he defeated Julian Feikert, 6-0 … against the Sooners, the Mountaineers entered the heavyweight contest with the ability to earn an even split in terms of matches, but were defeated 6-4 in that category … Shane Young (125) gave WVU an early lead, but the Sooners used five bonus point wins to build a 22-3 lead … Bubba Scheffel, Lance Bryson and A.J. Vizcarrondo helped close the lead to 22-14, but it was too little, too late for the Mountaineers.

Swimming and Diving

-This Week in Swimming & DivingThe women’s team will close out dual meet action by hosting Ohio on Saturday, Jan. 26 … the meet is scheduled to begin at noon … live results will be available on WVUsports.com.

-Last Week in Swimming & DivingBoth teams fell to TCU in dual meet action last Friday … the women fell 160-140, while the men lost 160-131.

-Notes & QuotesSenior Rachael Burnett continued her impressive career into the Big 12 last Friday, beginning with a win in the 1,000 free with a time of 10:06.12 … she also won the 200 free and the 500 free, with times of 1:51.63, and 5:00.40, respectively … the meet started with the 200 medley relay and the women’s team of Courtney Miller, Jenelle Zee, Julie Ogden and Jaimee Gillmore won the event with a time of 1:46.25 … for other members of the WVU women’s squad, Zee won the 100 breast (1:05.33), with senior Breanna McCann placing second (1:06.92), McCann also placed second in the 200 breast (2:24.19) … senior Mandie Nugent won the 200 fly with a time of 2:03.08, and placed third in the 100 fly (58.34) behind Ogden who won the event with a time of 57.66 … for the men’s swimmers, the Mountaineers swept the top three spots in the 200 free, with senior Hugh Simmonds winning the event with a time of 1:42.09, Ross Glegg and Nathan Cobbe followed close behind in second (1:42.26), and third (1:42.97), respectively … for the WVU divers, sophomore Haily VandePoel continued her impressive season with wins on both the 1-meter (281.77) and the 3-meter (316.20) … for the men, junior Richard Pokorny won both the 1-meter (306.82) and 3-meter (350.92) dives.

Rifle

-This Week in RifleThe West Virginia University rifle team will have the next week off before traveling to the University of Kentucky to compete on Saturday, Feb. 2.

-Last Week in RifleWVU rifle hosted No. 8 Nebraska on Jan. 19 … the Mountaineers out-shot their Great American Rifle Conference (GARC) foe in both guns, 4689-4661, winning air rifle, 2365-2352, and smallbore, 2324-2309 … the win improves the Mountaineers’ all-time record against the Cornhuskers to 8-3.

-Notes & QuotesSophomores Taylor Ciotola and Meelis Kiisk, and freshman Garrett Spurgeon contributed in both guns … senior Petra Zublasing and sophomore Maren Prediger counted in air rifle with junior Daniel Sojka, while sophomore Thomas Kyanko counted in smallbore … Zublasing finished first in air rifle with a 598 (99-100-99-100-100-100) score in her final career match at the WVU Rifle Range … Prediger finished second in air rifle with a 593 score … NU shooters earned third through fifth place finishes with Kiisk rounding out the top six with a score of 588 in air rifle … Kiisk won the smallbore competition with a score of 583 (198 prone, 192 standing, 193 kneeling) … teammates Sojka and Kyanko tied for second place with marks of 581 … Spurgeon and Ciotola tied for fifth place with scores of 579 … Kyanko and Spurgeon both shot school-record 200 prone scores … Kiisk, a Paide, Estonia, native, tied for first overall with NU shooter Janine Dutton with 1171 aggregate scores.

-Notes & QuotesHailey Barret was the lone WVU player to score a win in singles play … Barrett defeated Fidan Manashirova, 6-4, 6-2 the win was the first of her career in a dual match … in doubles play, Audrey Wooland and Emily Mathis earned an 8-5 win, but it was not enough, as the Buckeyes earned the doubles point … three WVU freshman saw their first career dual match action.

“I was really excited to get our team on the court to compete in a dual meet because for a lot of them this was a new situation. We did some things that were positive, but we are still a young team. Despite what the score may indicate, we competed with Ohio State. Audrey (Wooland) nearly came away with a win against a ranked opponent in the No. 1 singles spot, so that is also encouraging.” – Tina Samara

Gymnastics

-This Week in GymnasticsThe No. 22-ranked Mountaineers close out their three week season-opening road trip at No. 19 NC State on Friday, Jan. 25, at 7 p.m., at Reynolds Coliseum, in Raleigh, N.C.

-Last Week in GymnasticsAfter starting the meet strong on floor and vault, the Mountaineers (2-2) were befuddled on uneven bars and beam, dropping their final team score to 192.125 and finishing third at No. 15 Utah in front of 14,917 fans at the Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City … the Utes finished first (196.95), while No. 23 Oregon State finished second (195.95) and No. 20 Southern Utah placed fourth (191.05) … the Mountaineers had their strongest showing on vault, scoring a 49.05 … the team also tallied 48.525 on floor, 47.4 on bars and 47.15 on beam … senior Alaska Richardson and freshman Jaida Lawrence had the team’s best individual finish, as the duo scored 9.85 on vault and tied for fourth place … the score was a season best for both … Richardson also paced the team on floor and finished 10th overall with a 9.775 … after four falls on beam, sophomore Lia Salzano anchored the lineup with a ninth place, 9.8 routine … junior Hope Sloanhoffer paced the bars unit with a 9.725 score, good enough for 10th place … Sloanhoffer also was the team’s top all-around performer with a 38.8 score.

-Notes & QuotesThe Mountaineers dropped to 0-2 against Utah and 0-3 against OSU and improved to 4-1 against SUU … the meet was nearly a sellout, as Huntsman holds 15,000 … former East Atlantic Gymnastics League (EAGL) rivals, WVU owns a 24-13 all-time record vs. the Wolfpack … the Mountaineers went 1-0 against NCSU last season, finishing first at the EAGL Championship with a 196.475 mark while the Wolfpack placed second with a 196.0 score … WVU last competed in Raleigh in 2011 and fell to NCSU, 194.55-194.475.